Collective – “The only way out is through”
"The role of the artist is exactly the same as the role of the lover. If I love you, I have to make you conscious of the things you don’t see."
– James Baldwin
Art’s role in healing trauma, restoring a sense of self, and bringing together a community has led us to realize how artists are our second responders. Artmaking is a necessary part of life, and core to processing, expressing, reckoning, and healing. In a time of worldwide heartbreak, we are recognizing our interconnectedness to one another, and creation of art is one way we deepen our empathic networks.
IDENTITY is a display of aspects that usually remain hidden—a bittersweet and raw take on what churns inside us. We all have a certain idea of who we are through our identity, but to get there, we need to probe beneath the surface. To get a sense of ourselves, we need to explore who we are, how we are viewed by the world, and the characteristics that define us. This exhibit explores our beliefs, qualities, expressions, and personalities that collectively form our identity.
“Being Well” is what we seek together as neighbors, and recalls one of the central guiding principles of the City of Santa Monica, the notion of “wellbeing” as key to civic health. Recovery Justice: Being Well, aims to highlight the recent circumstances that have evolved during the pandemic (racial justice demonstrations and destruction, as well as social discontent and general disconnection) into a series of self-organized artist projects that merges the exterior and interior public spaces of City of Santa Monica property. 18th Street Airport Campus at Santa Monica Municipal Airport will be the site where artists reimagine the city and beyond in the midst of complex social unrest globally. Recovery Justice will recuperate through various means the digital and physical footprints left in a city that struggles to reclaim the seemingly peaceful environment it once had. Artists will develop a palette for making and sharing artworks responding to the street experience in safe, healing and expressive modes. This porous series is a point of departure to reconcile and redefine the concept of justice.
This collage of self-organized artist projects was organized around the common theme of Recovery Justice, facilitated as part of Sara Daleiden’s artist project and ongoing conversations nurtured through a series of online conversations with 18th Street’s artist community called “Creative Roundtables” over the past 8 months. These projects will manifest in outdoor presentations on the side of the building; sculptural, photographic, painting and video work in the galleries; and a series of online and drive-in events in Spring of 2021. The artists’ presentations will also be represented online and via a 360 tour for virtual viewing."
I am thrilled to be showing in The Cape Cod Museum of Art's upcoming exhbition, INSIGHT. When spoken, this word can be broadly understood as – Insight, In Sight and Incite.
Grace Hopkins, gallery director at the Berta Walker Galleries in Provincetown, and Wellfleet, MA served a s juror.
523 artworks were submitted by 272 artists from 30 states across the country for INSIGHT. Only 65 artworks have been selected from 60 artists in 16 states.
A note from the juror:
“Narrowing down the artwork for this exhibition was challenging. I first had to digest all 500+ submissions as a whole before any threads of meaning could be drawn between the works, and a final cohesive subset could be chosen. As a gallery director I am regularly confronted with an aesthetic puzzle. But, when you throw in the added thematic complexity of INSIGHT and the sheer number of works submitted, making a final selection was both a demanding and rewarding exercise in distillation. I want to thank everyone who came forward and placed their artwork into this pool. Another juror, with different values and sensibilities would have solved this very differently. Your collective vision, ability and insight moved me.”
-Grace Hopkins, Juror, Artist and Gallery Director, Berta Walker Galleries
I am honored to be included in CONTENT, a show of Artists' Books at The Artery, in Davis, CA.
"Artist Books typically defy classification, definition, and expectations. They are vessels for an artist's vision. To understand what an artist book is you have to forget your definition of a book."
According to the Smithsonian Institute Library blog, “An artist’s book is a medium of artistic expression that uses the form or function of ‘book’ as inspiration. It is the artistic initiative seen in the illustration, choice of materials, creation process, layout and design that makes it an art object. ..."
“What truly makes an artist’s book is the artist’s intent, and artists have used the book as inspiration in a myriad of ways and techniques, from traditional to the experimental. The book could be made through fine press printing or hand-crafted, the pages illustrated with computer-generated images or cheap photocopies; books became sculptures, tiny and gargantuan; books were sliced up and reconfigured, made from all kinds of materials with unconventional objects incorporated, in unique or limited editions, or produced in multiple copies. With all sorts of ideas behind them, artists continue to challenge the idea, content and structure of the traditional book.”
I am honored to be showing in FANTASTIC FIBERS 2021 at the Yeiser Art Center.
"One of Yeiser Art Center’s most engaging and innovative international exhibitions, FANTASTIC FIBERS is showcasing \a wide range of outstanding contemporary works related to the fiber medium."
HISTORY:
The show began in 1987 as a wearable art show but has evolved over the years to include a compelling mix of traditional and non-traditional works created from natural or synthetic fibers, and work that addresses the subject or medium of fiber. Paducah becomes a Mecca for quilters and quilt enthusiasts each April as more than 30,000 visitors from across the globe attend AQS QuiltWeek.
JUROR: Sandra Johnson
I am honored to be showing "Window Treatment" as part of the "A Thousand Words" show at Core New Art Space! "A Thousand Words" presents works that tell a story. Realistically, abstractly or expressionistically inspired by literature and legends, poetry and parables, novels and narratives, myths and metaphors, artworks have their own fictions, fables, folklore […]
Join us Thursday April 29th at 4:00PM for a very special program, as we culminate our Artist Residency at the Panorama City Regional Branch Library, supported by the Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs!
In celebration of National Poetry Month, Artist in Residence Debra Disman will lead us in creating a "flag book" that you can personalize with poems written by yourself or your favorite writers.
In addition, Staff Librarians will share their favorite poems and poetry books, there will be a slide presentation showing bookmaking projects completed during the 2020-21 Residency, and YOU will have the opportunity to share YOUR BOOK!
So, mark your calendars, and call 818.894.4071 and/or email the Library at pnorama@lapl.org and make an appointment to pick up your special materials packet which contains extra art materials and Library goodies to enjoy!
See You There!!!
TAG Proudly Presents
The Los Angeles Open 2021
May 11 — June 5
This year, TAG celebrates local area artists with a dedicated showcase from May 11-June 5 in our Sky Gallery in the upstairs loft at TAG.
Participating artists include:
Mariko Bird, Milan DelVecchio, L. Aviva Diamond, Debra Disman, David Emmett, Taz Essa, Pat Shafer Falkner, Tony Gangitano, Daniela Garcia, Kyoung Han, Andy Hann, Gina Herrera, Tom Lasley, Nancy Goodman Lawrence, Monica Marks, J.D. Mathes, Nelson Munares, Vojislav Radovanovic, Brian Reynolds, Emily Sunez, & Michael Usher.
I am thrilled to be showing "Torrent and Tangle: Keep your House In Order" in the:
"Turmoil and Transformation" show at the Hera Gallery and Educational Foundation, a non-profit, artist-run organization that has continued to stimulate discussion and challenge perceptions for over 40 years. This creative space has allowed countless artists a place for transformation, exploration, and community with one another which has been BRINGING CREATIVITY TO THE COMMUNITY SINCE 1974
"2020 was a year that was filled with worldwide turmoil. The Pandemic. Another reckoning with racism and police brutality. Climate Change, wildfires, hurricanes, and droughts. The undermining and politicization of science. The widening political divide. An election with voting rights, healthcare, immigration, paid sick leave, income inequality, living wages, reproductive rights, LGBTQIA rights, our environment and the future of democracy at stake.
Is this turmoil leading to transformation? And what kind of transformation is it going to be?"
Join 18th Street Arts Center artist in residence, Debra Disman and discover how to create the beautiful, fun and versatile Flower Fold book into which you can write or paste wishes, hopes, prayers and dreams, make into a chain to hang in your home, or give as a gift. Explore what the pandemic has meant to you while learning new skills and creating a unique expression of renewal and rebirth during the spring season.
"In a time of extraordinary flux, this exhibit will explore concepts of merging, verging and combining in shape, form, color, and meaning. How do artists investigate coming together—or coming apart—in their practice? The exhibit will feature artists from around the country working in a variety of media."
Vestige Concept Gallery Presents: Backroads: Art, Less Traveled. This exhibit seeks to showcase works of art that venture off the beaten path, especially with regard to travel. Artwork includes places or experiences involving hidden gems, special or unusual places, wanderings, odd travel, strange encounters, and/or "lost" and fading places.
The California Chapter of the Guild of Book Workers presents:
A workshop led by Debra Disman
Saturday, June 5, 2021
1:00 – 4:00 pm, Pacific Time
Presented live via Zoom
The “Folded Fan Book,” Debra Disman’s personal name for this fun and versatile book structure, is comprised of
an accordion spine, two covers, and full size pages which “fan out” when the book is opened.
This structure can be treated as a traditional codex or built into a sculptural form limited only by the
ingenuity, creativity, and innovation of the maker.
